Best marathon: 2:23:57 (2007, St. George). Won the Top of Utah Marathon twice (2003,2004). Won the USATF LDR circuit in Utah in 2006.

Draper Days 5 K 15:37 (2004)

Did not know this until June 2012, but it turned out that I've been running with spina bifida occulta in L-4 vertebra my entire life, which explains the odd looking form, struggles with the top end speed, and the poor running economy (cannot break 16:00 in 5 K without pushing the VO2 max past 75).

Short-Term Running Goals:

Qualify for the US Olympic Trials. With the standard of 2:19 on courses with the elevation drop not exceeding 450 feet this is impossible unless I find an uncanny way to compensate for the L-4 defect with my muscles. But I believe in miracles.

Long-Term Running Goals:

2:08 in the marathon. Become a world-class marathoner. This is impossible unless I find a way to fill the hole in L-4 and make it act healthy either by growing the bone or by inserting something artificial that is as good as the bone without breaking anything important around it. Science does not know how to do that yet, so it will take a miracle. But I believe in miracles.

Personal:

I was born in 1973. Grew up in Moscow, Russia. Started running in 1984 and so far have never missed more than 3 consecutive days. Joined the LDS Church in 1992, and came to Provo, Utah in 1993 to attend BYU. Served an LDS mission from 1994-96 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Got married soon after I got back. My wife Sarah and I are parents of nine children: Benjamin, Jenny, Julia, Joseph, Jacob, William, Stephen, Matthew, Mary, and Bella. We home school our children.

I am a software engineer/computer programmer/hacker whatever you want to call it, and I am currently working for RedX. Aside from the Fast Running Blog, I have another project to create a device that is a good friend for a fast runner. I called it Fast Running Friend.

Favorite Quote:

...if we are to have faith like Enoch and Elijah we must believe what they believed, know what they knew, and live as they lived.

Total of 12.5. Kids ran their usual distances. New schedule for Benjamin - he will be doing 9 Mon,Wed,Fri, 12 Tue and Thu, and 15 on Sat. This works better with his school schedule. Speaking of school, Benjamin got 4.0 GPA in the Fall semester and will likely make the Dean's list again. Most of his classes were not easy - he took CS 235 (data structures in C++), Math 320 (computation and optimization), Math 321 (lab associated with Math 320), Math 344 (linear and non-linear analysis), Math 345 (lab of Math 344), Math 391R (Putnam seminar), and REL 122 (Book of Mormon).

His math classes are part of the new BYU ACME (Applied Math Computational Emphasis) program that is quite interesting - they are learning a condensed version of math that would normally be taught in graduate and PhD courses and apply it as they go - each class has an associated lab where they write code in Python using the mathematical concepts they just learned. The program is not for the faint of heart - I think they had somewhere around 50% attrition rate this semester. But it does help if you live at home, your mom cooks for you, your dad makes sure you go to bed on time, and you do not have to worry about paying your bills. So I suppose you could argue Benjamin had an unfair advantage that overcompensated the fact that he is still only 15.

12 total. Benjamin did all of it with me. Jenny did 4.5, William and Stephen their usual distances, Joseph and Jacob 4, Julia 3.2. Benjamin and I did a workout down the Provo Canyon - 2 miles, then long recovery then 1 mile.

Leg 1:Distance1.250Time10:07.60Pace8:06.08

Warm-up with Benjamin.

Leg 2:Distance2.000Time10:59.30Pace5:29.65

2 mile tempo. Benjamin pulled me for the first 1.5 then sped up and ran the last 0.5 in 2:30 finishing in 10:43.

Leg 3:Distance1.300Time11:04.60Pace8:31.23

Recovery jog.

Leg 4:Distance1.000Time5:18.20Pace5:18.20

Another quick interval. Benjamin pulled me through the first 0.5 in 2:37, then shifted gears and ran the last 0.5 in 2:19. He had shed some clothes so he was able to go much faster.

Leg 5:Distance2.300Time19:20.40Pace8:24.52

Back to the house with Benjamin.

Leg 6:Distance4.000Time33:32.40Pace8:23.10

We picked up Julia, Joseph, and Jacob and ran 4 with them. Julia was not feeling well so we dropped her off at 3.2.

Benjamin pulled me through the first 2 miles in 5:21, 5:30, then kicked in 4:54 (2:31,2:23). I ran the last mile in 5:25. A decent run for me - better than anything I've done in the last 3 months or so. There was some snow and ice on the ground - probably cost me at least 10 seconds.

Today was more of hike than a run because I ran the first 9 miles with kids that were not Benjamin, and on top of that Benjamin felt tired so we did not break 8:00 average for a while. Total of 20 for me. William did 2 miles, Stephen 1, Jenny, Julia, Joseph, and Jacob 4, Benjamin did 15.

Leg 1:Distance4.000Time32:45.70Pace8:11.42

With Joseph and Jacob. We hoped to be able to do a time trial at Orem High, but the track had a couple of snow drifts that you could run through, but we considered it unsuitable for a time trial. So we just ran 4 with the last mile fast on the roads.